Forbes CommunityVoice™ allows professional fee-based membership groups ("communities") to connect directly with the Forbes audience by enabling them to create content – and participate in the conversation – on the Forbes digital publishing platform. Each topic-based CommunityVoice™ is produced and managed by the group.

Opinions expressed within Forbes CommunityVoice™ are those of the participating individuals.

How Company Culture Strengthens Your Marketing

CMO of Moving Targets, a national direct marketing agency combining veteran advertising tactics with modern technology.

A few years back, our office culture was strikingly different from its present state. Walking in, you would see people in gray cubicles, no music, no talking, limited sharing of ideas, and not much fun and happiness.

Step into our office today, and you may get hit with a stray Nerf dart, find team members discussing strategy while sitting in bean bag chairs and sipping craft beer, or see strategists in the midst of a lunch-and-learn meeting. The transformation of our culture has resulted in increased profitability, over-the-top customer happiness, and serious employee engagement.

Long gone are the days when companies could have autonomy over their brand image. It no longer matters what a company reports or intends; now they are quickly judged on their actions and results. With 60% of consumers wanting to know what a company stands for before supporting it, company culture and the way employees are treated are paramount to your business success. A strong company culture centered on employees and innovation will be supported by consumers far more than a self-centered, corporate-focused competitor.

While we are having a blast each day, we also want our customers to be blown away by our work and the results we generate for their business -- and show other companies they can create similar environments. Here are four important steps we took that can help your company transform its culture too.

Stay Agile

You simply can’t have happy, motivated employees without having grateful and enthusiastic customers. It's important for your company to internalize strong core values – like integrity, excellence and commitment – while branding itself in a way that exhibits your image clearly to both customers and employees.

During my daily dart game with one of our marketing consultants, we talk about challenges our prospects face, objections to our services, and the qualifications of some of our prospects. We would rather spend time understanding these issues and addressing them than waste time with prospects who are not a good fit for our services. Ideas from our many games have resulted in improved internal systems, streamlined workflow organization, and generated more qualified prospects.

Understand Challenges And Opportunities

Leaders need to understand a team’s day-to-day challenges, opportunities and strengths. Fostering unforgettable experiences can generate a passion for excellence that builds both careers and culture. To do so, try reorganizing job descriptions and responsibilities so you can truly play to your employees’ strengths. By focusing on individual talents, team members will have more pride in their work to do a better job for your clients.

We work to promote greater emotional investment by creating an office where anyone on the team can contribute without worry or insecurity, while pursuing their passion and continuing to refine their skills. Instead of formal meetings, we meet as needed and always with a goal in mind. Our team regularly spends time together off the clock, allowing organic conversations and ideas to flow and creativity to flourish.

By getting to know your team on a personal and professional level, you don't need to ask the stuffy questions like, “What are you most proud of this month? Where do you want to be in three years?” You already know that kind of valuable info from your day-to-day interactions and are helping each other chase your dreams.

Once your core values have been established, share your message, internally and externally. For example, we’ve made several videos depicting our work/play vibe while also conveying our marketing message and defining our competitive value: the individual talents within our team. One such video features my dog, a Doberman, grabbing a beer from the fridge and delivering it to our COO. This approach helps prospects get a feel for your environment and learn about the services you offer in a humorous and fun way.

Determine the most important values and start marketing to customers who also seem to embody your company’s core values. Utilize a sales funnel to target smaller niches to gain the clients who are the best match for your brand. Nothing is more draining than working with a client who isn’t the right fit. We’ve learned to manage out clients who don’t exemplify our core values, but it’s best to avoid them from the jump.

Changing your culture isn’t easy and it involves a lot of risk. But when it is done well, it’s worth the effort. The better we understand each other and our sensibilities, the better our culture can continue to thrive and our customers can reap the benefit. No matter what form that culture takes, it is now a team effort, a part of our present and future, and will always be up to us to shape it as we see fit. We take marketing seriously; ourselves, not so much.